Braised Beef Noodle Soup (红烧牛肉面)

I’m not going to lie–if you put this Braised Beef Noodle Soup and my Spicy Beef Noodle Soup side by side, I would choose the latter. It’s not much of a surprise, since I’ve been known to post some of our more throat-burning, tongue-numbing spicy Sichuan dishes, but for readers with tamer taste buds, this Braised Beef Noodle Soup recipe is what you’ve been waiting for.

I’m not usually one to brag, but this recipe is what I would call a Big Success, and I’m fairly certain that it will be one of the best bowls of beef noodle soup you’ll ever have!

Everyone knows that I don’t like overly complicated recipes. The cooking method for this braised beef noodle soup recipe is very similar to my Spicy Beef Noodle Soup, and many of you have successfully made it already! The biggest change between this recipe and that one is in the dried spices and in this case, the aromatics are doing all the heavy lifting.

As for the beef, you can use one of these three cuts of beef. Depending on where you live, prices can vary widely, but here are some general considerations:

Beef chuck: economical and cooks quickly

Beef shank: texture-wise, there’s some gristle, which requires longer simmering, but can be very good if you like that kind of thing. It also often costs 50% more than beef chuck.

Beef brisket: it’s fattier and tastes beefier, but it does have a higher price point.

Regardless of which cut you choose, a good rule of thumb for picking your beef is to look for good marbling. This marbled fat keeps the meat from drying out and intensifies the beef flavor–particularly important for this braised beef noodle soup, since the beef cooks for a relatively long time. This is one of those times that the “fat-free” route should be reserved for something else.

As for the aromatics, I know it’s a challenge to gather these dried ingredients, but it’s absolutely worth the effort, not to mention they keep for a long time and can be used for many other Asian braised dishes. So do your best to gather as many of the aromatics listed below as you can, if not all!

Also, be careful to follow the correct quantities for each aromatic ingredient. Overloading them can transform your soup from a delicious broth into Chinese medicine!

Next, rinse off the beef under cold running water. In a soup pot, add 16 cups of water, the ginger, and beef. Bring to a boil and cook for a few more minutes until you see some foam floating on the top of the water.

Skim the foam off. You don’t want these impurities from the beef making your soup cloudy.

Turn off the heat, fish out the pieces of beef, and strain the resulting broth through a fine-meshed strainer, into a heatproof bowl or other pot. Set aside, along with the ginger pieces.

In another large, thick-bottomed soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the rock sugar, the white parts of the scallion, and the garlic.

Cook for a few minutes until the scallions are lightly seared. Add the beef, turn up the heat, and mix everything well.

Cook for about 5 minutes, and stir once or twice in between. Add the Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce, and stir everything together well so that the beef is coated in the soy sauce.

Now add the aromatics, plus the daikon and the broth and ginger pieces that you boiled the beef in.

Bring everything to a boil and immediately turn the heat down to medium.

Simmer for 90 minutes. The broth should be steadily simmering, where you can see water moving in the pot, but not at a rolling boil.

After 90 minutes, turn off the heat and let it stand (with the lid on) for another hour.

Now your beef soup base is ready. Reheat, remove the aromatics, and add salt to taste before serving.

You add salt at this point, because adding salt too early will dry out the beef.

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, strain, and transfer to a large bowl.

Blanch a handful of your leafy greens of choice, you can blanch them in the noodle water, and add it to the noodles. Then, ladle in the beef and the soup.

Top the braised beef noodle soup with the chopped green parts of the scallions you set aside earlier and some chopped cilantro (optional).

And if you really can’t resist a bit of spice, add a spoonful of your homemade chili oil. Wink! Wink!

Next, rinse off the beef under cold running water. In a soup pot, add 16 cups of water, the ginger, and beef. Bring to a boil and cook for a few more minutes until you see some foam floating on the top of the water. Skim the foam off. You don’t want these impurities from the beef making your soup cloudy. Turn off the heat, fish out the pieces of beef, and strain the resulting broth through a fine-meshed strainer, into a heatproof bowl or other pot. Set aside, along with the ginger pieces.

In another large, thick-bottomed soup pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the rock sugar, the white parts of the scallion, and the garlic. Cook for a few minutes until the scallions are lightly seared. Add the beef, turn up the heat, and mix everything well.

Cook for about 5 minutes, and stir once or twice in between. Now add the Shaoxing wine, dark soy sauce, and light soy sauce, and stir everything together well so that the beef is coated in the soy sauce.

Now add the aromatics, plus the daikon, and the broth and ginger pieces that you boiled the beef in. Bring everything to a boil and immediately turn the heat down to medium. Simmer for 90 minutes. The broth should be steadily simmering where you can see water moving in the pot, but not at a rolling boil.

After 90 minutes, turn off the heat and let it stand (with the lid on) for another hour. Now your soup base is ready. Reheat, remove the aromatics, and add salt to taste before serving. Just remember, adding salt too early will dry out the beef.

Cook the noodles according to the package instructions, strain, and transfer to a large serving bowl. Blanch a handful of your leafy greens of choice in the noodle water, and add it to the noodles. Then, ladle in the beef and the soup. Top with the chopped green parts of the scallions you set aside earlier and some chopped cilantro (optional). And if you really can’t resist a bit of spice, add a spoonful of chili oil. Wink! Wink!

The soup is now simmering so I am very excited!! I have one question … you say put scallions, garlic and garlic in the oil … and then cook at high heat the meat. Is the sugar not burning when doing this ? I used regular sugar. Or should you use rock sugar? Would it hurt to add the sugar later ? I don’t understand why you add the sugar together with the scallions.

Hi Jan, when cooking the sugar, ginger and scallion, please use medium heat. But turn up the heat after adding the beef. To answer your question, cooking the sugar first will add shine when braising the meat, especially towards the end. Please have a look at this technique displayed in our Shanghai Style Braised Pork Belly recipe. This step is not as critical in this Braised Beef Noodle Soup recipe, though, because it is a soup dish. I did it this way more out of habit :-)

Hi Jan, yes, you should scale down all the other ingredients if you scale down the liquid. Here is my suggestion, don’t scale down, because you can freeze the leftover beef/soup for next time. A week or a month later, heat up the soup, cook some noodles, and you have another delicious Braised Beef Noodle Soup meal without much work. :-)

Hi Judy, thank you so much for posting this recipe! My family and I are definitely looking forward to making this soon, but we’re having trouble locating the white cardamom in any of the Asian groceries nearby. Is there a substitute that you would recommend?

Hi Brenda, the recipe calls for black cardamom (草果), not white or green cardamom. Please show these Chinese characters: 草果 to the store clerk at your local Asian supermarket––he or she should be able to help you find it.

Hi Judy, I’ve gathered all my spices and am ready to cook this! One Qn though, I am going to be using tendons and brisket in my soup. Can I boil the soup for much longer than the time indicated in your recipe? I’m just worried if the spices are suitable for long “stewing”, or will it get bitter? I need the tendons to be really soft. Please advise!

Thank you and your family for your many wonderful recipes. This has become my go-to food blog!

I finally got around to making this soup this past weekend after spending a few days gathering the aromatics.

The soup smelled great and was very flavorful, but I noticed a slightly bitter aftertaste. I was careful to follow the correct quantities for the aromatics and the simmering time, so I’m not quite sure where I went wrong. I did let the soup stand a little longer than an hour with the aromatics in. Could this be the cause of the bitterness? Any thoughts or suggestions would be much appreciated. Would love to give this soup another go! (I have lots of lovely aromatics left in my cupboard!)

Judy, i’ve made this last night and this works out amazing!
The smell of the spice is what it smells like when you walk in to a really good TW beef noodle shop
the way you prepare the beef is turns out so juicy, cause i often had a dry out beef in slow cook, but this one is something special.
This will be my guest pleased dish, especially when friend from TW come visit, they’ll definitely freak out.

WOW. WOW. What an AMAZING recipe Judy!!! As you may remember, I (Mirella) have an issue with my stomach so spicy food is out, so this is PERFECT for me as well:):) The aromas from the spices are truly unique and we bet they make this dish taste heavenly. THANK YOU so much for the awesome dish sweetie! We’re both really excited to try this out! xoxoxo

OMG! OMG! OMG! this dish is awesome – have to try it – have to try it – have to try it…I seem to repeat myself, maybe that’s because I just can’t look away from your photos and your soup. Txs for the hint and keep up your good work.

I played around with such recipes many years ago and came up with something that pleased me, but this recipe looks even better, with more nuances. I am eager to try this–perhaps with a mixture of beef shank and brisket. (I LOVE textures.) Hmmm, perhaps another iteration will include tripe too.

Thanks for what I am sure is another great recipe. (I will rate it after I try it.)

This recipe is for people who love prep work and technique and a good bowl of ramen soup. I love all three, but, after reading the ingredient list and recipe, I’ll gladly pay $10 for someone else to make it for me. I’m 76 years old and by the time I shop for all the ingredients, do the prep, make the recipe…..I might not still be alive!
I actually have all the ingredients except for the licorice root and daikon. The rock sugar is just regular sugar which has crystalized into large crystals.
The recipe sounds wonderful. Have you offered the spicy version earlier, possibly before I joined your blog?

What you have done to me? Why? Why? Why? I’m drooling uncontrollable!!!! :D :D :D
Can’t wait to try this out… and I’m sure will turn out perfect like your other recipes! Thank you so much! Keep on good Work :)

There are sooo many ingredients in this! It looks absolutely amazing and I can’t wait to try it. Looks like I need to stock up on some things first though. I love these kinds of dishes with so many flavors.

I have been in love with this blog and all authors for the past few months now. This has been a long sought-after recipe and while it’s going to be insanely difficult to find all the spices, I’m hoping that I can somehow master this one dish and cross it off my cooking bucketlist! Can’t wait to try the rest, will never be able to catch up but love to read it all. Keep it coming!

Yum can’t wait to try this. I’ve always wondered if Pho isn’t the Vietnamese spin on the Chinese red-cooked method. This looks more complex flavor wise than the usual red cooked recipe I use in the slow cooker. Thanks

Hi Mitch, I just added some new pictures and descriptions to our ingredients pages for amomum white cardamom and for licorice root. Click on the link for that particular ingredient on the ingredients list :)